When the Rams and 49ers play next week in Australia on the second day of the NFL season, their game plans will be dissected and debated. Their travel plans will be scrutinized as well.
The NFL is continuing to push the logistical boundaries of its bid to expand its international appeal with this Thursday-night game, played Friday morning in Melbourne.
“This is new,” Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s EVP of club business, major events, and international, said in a video news conference this week. “You learn things every year. This is further than we’ve gone for a regular season game. But we feel really confident in the plan and the work we’ve done over many, many months working with the teams and our partners on the ground there in Melbourne.”
The teams have taken wildly differing approaches to traversing the globe and trying to promote peak on-field performance.
The 49ers made their roughly 8,000-mile, 16-hour flight this week and already are in Australia, giving their players and coaches about a week to acclimate to the time zone, which is currently 17 hours ahead of California. The Rams have remained in Los Angeles to sleep in their own beds and practice at their own training facility for as long as possible before traveling next week; they are expected to arrive in Melbourne about 24 hours ahead of the game.
